PHILADELPHIA — The United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit has held that the National Shooting Sports Foundation’s challenge to New Jersey’s “public nuisance” firearms law may proceed.
The September 8 opinion, written by Circuit Judge Porter and joined by Circuit Judges Matey and Ambro, concluded, “We agree that NSSF now has standing to bring this suit.” The panel reversed the district court’s previous ruling and remanded the case for the district court to consider a preliminary injunction on the merits.
At its heart, the lawsuit presents a challenge to a vague and sweeping gun control measure wrapped in liability language (A1765), enacted by Governor Phil Murphy in 2022, which allowed the state to seek civil liability against firearms manufacturers and distributors under the broad umbrella of conduct deemed a “public nuisance.”
Although the act has not yet been addressed from a preemption perspective, it is widely considered to undermine the protections that manufacturers face under the federally enacted Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act (PLCAA), passed in 2005, and has turned into a “frivolous lawsuit machine,” in the words of one legal expert.
The statute – and enforcement actions – admittedly target lawful products and actions. In passing the measure, the legislature said that:
[w]ith respect to gun violence, the unavailability of a robust public nuisance statute has limited the State’s ability to seek legal redress in situations where firearms manufacturers and retail dealers may have knowingly or recklessly taken actions that have endangered the safety and health of New Jersey residents through the sale, manufacture, distribution, and marketing of lethal, but nonetheless legal, gun-related products.
Though NSSF filed the suit in November 2022, it hit a series of procedural hurdles, including being dismissed for lack of standing because enforcement was “too speculative,” according to a previous Third Circuit decision.
New Jersey, then under Attorney General Matthew Platkin, also told the Third Circuit it would not prosecute NSSF or its members merely for participating in “lawful commerce.” However, since that time, the state has brought six enforcement actions, including a 2024 suit against Glock, an NSSF member.
In 2025, the state’s credibility faltered to the point that District Judge Zahid Quraishi, a Biden appointee, allowed NSSF to reopen the case, and the Third Circuit now agrees, “These actions move the imminency of harm from speculative to ‘credible’ and ‘substantial.'”
As additional evidence the Third Circuit cites the following state actions by New Jersey:
- 2025 enforcement against Sig Sauer over P320 pistol design
- 2024 enforcement against Point Blank Guns and Ammo and Butch’s Gun World for lawful ammo sales
- 2023 suit against FSS Armory for storing guns “within easy reach of a ground-floor window”
- 2023 suit against Pennsylvania-based Eagle Shows and JSD Supply over parts kits
A large part of New Jersey’s defense in the latest district court proceedings rested on the “Younger abstention,” a doctrine that federal courts usually should not interfere with ongoing state-court proceedings. The Third Circuit rejected the state’s proposed application of that rule as a catch-22: sue before enforcement and lose for lack of standing; sue after enforcement against one member and get thrown out under Younger.
“Because NSSF, and its members, are ‘entitled to [their] own day in court,’ we reject New Jersey’s proposed rule.” The case now returns to the District of New Jersey to consider NSSF’s preliminary-injunction request on the merits.
